This invention addresses the problem of activating service for a wireless telephone in a wireless system other than the normal home system of that wireless telephone or a system that might grant access as a roaming type activation. In a particular aspect it concerns activation of a wireless telephone to operate in a local or secondary system, overlapped by a macro or primary system. Activation in a private or secondary wireless system for a permanent or a limited-time duration is considered. It specifically relates to first time activation of digital wireless/mobile telephones. A method of using a wireless handset""s automatic activation features for obtaining service on such a wireless system is described. In one particular aspect, the invention addresses provisioning of service to in-building/campus wireless users in accord/compliance with pre-existing standards. The wireless system may be cellular, PCN, PCS, or a similar mobile radio system
A wireless telephone typically needs to be activated before it can operate in a particular wireless system. Normally this process is required only once since subsequent uses of the wireless telephone in that system is already authorized. Access in different systems is generally covered by roaming procedures allowing use of the wireless telephone as it moves to another system. This granting of use permission is dependent upon agreements between different systems and access to databases to verify the legitimacy of the wireless telephone operating out of its home territory.
There are a large number of localized and/or private wireless systems which are not part of arrangements permitting roaming and may indeed operate within a territory already covered or overlaid by other carriers including the home carrier of a wireless telephone seeking use of a localized and/or private wireless system. Such localized and/or private wireless systems operate at low signal levels compared to outdoor macrocell systems. These localized and/or private systems are frequently found within buildings and on campus sites.
TIA/EIA-136, a cellular standard covering digital cellular TDMA systems, explicitly provides for providing service to private user communities. Service is granted by means of a Private System IDentification (PSID) code entered into each wireless telephone requesting service from the private/local wireless system. This PSID code must be entered into the handset, which is requesting service. The process is elementary but it is not simple in real economic terms. For example to insert the PSID into the wireless telephone manually is elementary and at the same time both inefficient and costly especially in the circumstance of initially providing service to a xe2x80x98largexe2x80x99 number of users. Even on an occasional basis a structured entry process requiring experienced human intervention must still be maintained. This procedure must include decisions regarding control over duration of registry and extent of use privileges offered.
Service provisioning, by over-the-air downloading of required information, is available on many macrocellular cellular/wireless systems of public carriers. In one cellular system a telephone number and System ID (SID) code is assigned and downloaded to a wireless/cellular telephone and the user enters the related information in response to a visually presented operation menu provided by the wireless telephone. The registration is completed with a specific sequence of steps which include searching a range of digital macrocellular RF control channels; latching on to the strongest control channel received; and then installing activation and authentication information into the wireless telephone over the air.
The key to this automatic setup procedure, in part, is the ability of the wireless/cellular phone to preferentially seek (i.e., tune-in to) the strongest macrocellular setup channel in the locality. This complicates the desire for automatic setup procedures for private and local wireless/cellular systems. The first obstacle is the relatively high signal level of the macrocellular system compared to the private local/system. The relatively high signal level of the macrocellular system overrides any setup channel of the private/local system rendering it impossible for the wireless telephone to latch onto the local/private system.
At present there is no way of automatically provisioning a wireless/mobile digital phone (e.g., digital cellular telephone) to a secondary wireless communication system in an area radiated by a more powerful dominant wireless communication system (i.e., a macrocellular system). The macrocellular signal strength overrides any provisioning signal provided by the secondary system.
A method and apparatus is provided permitting individual wireless telephones (i.e., cellular) use of the wireless telephone""s inherent downloading capability to permit automatic activation to achieve registration and activation to a secondary (i.e., private) wireless communication system (e.g., cellular system) by downloading directly into the wireless telephone the necessary system information.
Automatic activation (i.e., first time access) of digital wireless/cellular mobile telephones with a private/localized wireless/cellular system (i.e. a secondary system) occurs, in accord with the invention, within an area having an overlapping macrocellular primary wireless communication system (i.e., a dominant system). Operation of the secondary access procedure, to register and receive service from the secondary system, is achieved by shielding/masking an access and authentication process for the secondary system from interference from the control signal levels of the dominant wireless communication system. During the first time access, the secondary system is supplied with the PSID and MIN and ESN numbers needed for authentication and resultant access.
In particular the process requires masking only during the authentication and access processing allowing the application of shielding/masking for this process only. In one masking arrangement the antenna for the secondary system used for access and authentication procedures radiates a control channel signal that exceeds a radiation level of the dominant system control channel only within a very short distance from an access antenna of the secondary system. For example, in some situations, this distance is about an inch or less. Hence when the wireless telephone is within this distance the secondary system acts as the dominant system in the region for access and authentication procedures.
In another embodiment the antenna, of the secondary system, dedicated for access processes may be in a shielded enclosure which blocks radiation from the dominant system within the enclosure. Such a shield could be a conductive grid formed into a box enclosure into which the wireless telephone may be inserted and placed next to an antenna of the secondary system used for access procedures.
In one exemplary embodiment the secondary system uses identical signal formats and frequencies for access as used by the overlapping dominant system. These may be defined by a cellular standard such as ANSI TIA/EIA-136, which provides standards for providing services to private user communities. In a specific embodiment the secondary system scans the overhead channels of the dominant system and replicates these signals and frequencies for creating its own overhead and control channels.
In the disclosed embodiment the secondary wireless communication system operates in a region covered by an overlapping dominant wireless communication system. The secondary system uses access signals and techniques in at least one access method identical to those of the dominant system (i.e., TIA/EIA-136 procedures). It may, in some instances, use different access methods (i.e., analog processing) not used by the dominant system. The secondary system special access mode is operative for access to new wireless telephones needing initial authentication and access data to be inserted into the wireless phone to enable operation in the secondary system. Access is enabled only if the phone is positioned so that the received radiation from the access antenna of the secondary system is stronger than the ambient radiated signal strength of the dominant system when the wireless telephone is positioned properly relative to the access antenna of the secondary system.
In a variation of the disclosed embodiments a secondary/microcellular system may be interconnected with the dominant/macrocellular system so that the two interwork with each other. In a particular aspect an inter/intranet-connected database may be utilized by both systems. Such a database may be readily accessed by individuals requesting access to the secondary system through an internet/intranet connection. Such a database could be used to provide mobile station phone numbers and additionally provide other service provider information.